Murder Superior, by Jane Haddam

Sunday, November 14, 2004

In Murder Superior, by Jane Haddam, when wild Catholic school alumna Nancy Hare dumps a vase of flowers, green fertilizer, and water on the head of Mother Mary Bellarmine, no one thinks it undeserved. Of the thousands of sisters of the Divine Grace Order gathered for an international convention on Mother's Day, Mother Mary Bellarmine is the most hated. So much hostility towards her is evident that when the poisonous, if not properly cooked, Japanese fugu fish is discovered to be missing, the reader waits impatiently for Mother Bellarmine's murder. Then, when the well-loved, generous and compassionate Sister Joan Esther falls immobile into the arms of Gregor Demarkian, it looks like a mistake.

The Armenian-American sleuth Gregor Demarkian, former FBI agent and poison expert, is on the scene for both incidents because he has been invited to be a guest speaker at the convention. From this position, he witnesses the green water tumble down on Mother Bellarmine's head, and notices in the fracas, that her habit has been torn. He is also literally on hand when Sister Joan falls. This gives him a brief opportunity to evaluate the death -- enough to determine the cause was a nerve posion like fugu -- before he is rudely booted off the case by a young, incompetent Italian-American police detective, Jack Androcetti.


So great is Androcetti's jealousy and hatred for Demarkian that when he thinks Demarkian has re-insinuated himself into the police investigation, he bloodies Demarkian's mouth with a suspensionable punch.

In the Gregor Demarkian series, Murder Superior follows A Great Day for the Deadly, and makes occasional, explained references to it. Gregor Demarkian is at home in this Mother's Day episode, on Cavanaugh Street, in Philadelphia, instead of visiting the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Divine Graces in Maryville, New York. From this vantage point, the reader is made privy to his daily habits and the affection felt towards him of a group of solicitous women of mixed ages.

Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian Series

# Somebody Else's Music
# True Believers
# Skeleton key
# Deadly beloved
# Baptism in Blood
# And One to Die On
# Fountain of Death
# Bleeding Hearts
# Festival of Deaths
# Dear Old Dead
# Murder Superior
# A Stillness in Bethlehem
# A Great Day for the Deadly
# Feast of Murder
# Quoth the Raven
# Act of Darkness
# Precious Blood
# Not a Creature Was Stirring

Sunday, November 14, 2004